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ZackF —
City of the Ancients
Published: 2009-08-08 07:17:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 65407; Favourites: 3295; Downloads: 2681
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Description
Finally done with this concept, and it is now 3:00 AM.
Enjoyed working on it so much I lost track of time. There is a bit more I could do but I need to move on to making it in 3D. Let me know what you think! 
Photoshop CS4
Update: I have a progress thread for this scene on Polycount, where you can see the steps I went through to make this concept art as well as the new work I am doing to create the scene as a real-time 3D environment. Check it out here: [link]
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Comments: 364
So, so beautiful. The atmosphere is perfect and I love how you used depth in the background
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Thank you, it makes me very glad to know people enjoy my work, especially the art I am most proud of.
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Thanks, that's high praise! I always loved the artwork they had, fun game too.
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yeah. i really think your work matches up to their standards, or even better. And yeah, it is a very fun game ^^
I hear that the artist are mostly employed, you could live off of it! ^^
GREAT work!
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That's wonderfull, the green feelling.
One question, how do you do tha grass and the foliage, do you use specific brushes?
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Yeow, sorry I never got around to giving the quick explanation to you here. If you're still interested, I used a mix of custom brushes and photo source overlays. And thank you.
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That's okay.
Again the resultas are fantastic, did you study these techniques in some art schoool, or you learned by yoursef?
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Thanks again! I'm just self-taught, although I've certainly gone through a number of tutorials along the way. Some of the videos from Gnomon have been particularly helpful.
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lovely colors!
very well done!
the seperation between the middleground and the background structures is a bit to harsh. could be bit more smooth imo. espeacially on that brigde
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Thanks Adam! I agree, I could get a better sense of depth by improving that transition, great crit.
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my pleasure
how is it going nowadays?
havent seen you for a while ^^
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Been busy busy busy with art tests for studios. It's almost cruel, the scope of some of these tests. 
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wish you luck on the tests then
im not a student. im working full time as an 3dartist right now.so i mainly model stuff and texture it ^^
would love to to digital art professionally tho hehe. well who knows waht weill happen next. thanks for the flattery but i know myself that i got to get better if i want to become a 2dartist *sigh*
i'll sit down now and paint some oils!
greetings
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It looks wonderful, both the city and the mood of the picture, the lighting really adds much.
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Thank you! Lighting is one of my favorite aspects of visual art, and I'm glad it's working well here.
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Thanks, but it's not as awesome as your icon!
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That's why I gotta crank on finishing this scene in 3D! Glad you like it man.
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Believe it or not, I was originally trying to make it seem a bit ominous, but my natural tendencies seem to lean toward more serene environments. I'll have to keep working on that, but I'm still happy with how this one turned out. Thanks Jenni!
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I'm glad you drew it this way, not ominious
you're welcome
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This looks absolutely beautiful!
It looks so realistic, and all the details in it are just amazing!^^
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great concept piece, everything is there... perspective, atmosphere, mood... great job! I feel like the edges could have been organized better, but overall it's a great piece.
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Thank you! By edges do you mean geometry edges or stuff near the borders of the image?
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I mean from a painting standpoint. When you make decisions about whether to make a smooth or hard edge, you can control composition by keeping your edges organized... like 'hard edge here, then soft edge here' to balance it. The best example I can think of is Richard Schmid. Craig Mullins does it as well, but schmid is like.. grand master at it.
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That's very interesting... I've actually never heard of the idea of edge organization before now. I don't quite have a grasp of the idea and how to apply it yet, could you tell me about or link me to more material where I could continue researching it on my own? Some training DVDs, art textbooks, or online tutorials that discuss it, or something like that. As much as I would like for you to keep explaining and offering specific examples and such, I hesitate to ask because I don't know how much of your time I would waste before I finally managed to get it through my thick skull.
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well, the most pertinent advice I can think of is doing master studies, because I can guarantee all of the 'old masters' had to be good at it (check out artrenewal.org, they have pretty much every piece by any 'old-master' ever (aside from private collections).
Here is also another link that will help you, especially the first post:
[link]
good luck!
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Thanks Justin, I really appreciate it! It seems like paying attention to this could really help improve my work noticeably. You da man.
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So much detail. It's wicked. Only thing I can critique at all is on the left, directly under the face-statue and above the opening. The shading on the decorated stone makes it look like it's moving back in space rather than across. That's all I could come up with after looking at this picture for ten minutes.
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Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Ahh, I see what you mean about that shading issue, good catch!
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Wouldn't even say it's an issue. It's a badass piece.
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hey
this is a really great stuff!!!
the depth, colour and stone are amazing...
very nice pict,really
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This is awesome and inspiring. It inspires me to use something similar for my Eberron campaign.
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Thank you very much, I'm glad it inspires your imagination.
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I would like to give a critique, but I honestly can't even think of anything. XD Really awesome work, Zack.
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Hehe, thank you my hamster friend!
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